A Day of Ruin

“Harlow. Can you hear me? It’s me, Bryson.”

I watched in desperation at her face, pleading in my head for something. A sign – fucking anything.

Finn shifted, his hands still locked around the towel on her arm as he watched her carefully. “She has a faint pulse. She’s gotta be okay. She just has to be. Harlow, you have to hang on.”

The three of us sucked in a breath as her eyes slowly opened partially, staring at us through slits. She blinked, slowly looking more alert despite the wooziness she obviously felt.

“... What are you doing here?” she breathed, her eyes looking around before stopping on me.

I swallowed as I grabbed her uninjured hand. “We were here to help you. We are here to help you.”

“You kissed her.”

Finn and Dex snapped their gazes to me in anger and suspicion. I looked at her confused.

“Harlow... what are you talking about?”

She shook her head slightly, so insignificantly that if I hadn’t been watching closely, I might have missed it. She turned her head to look at Finn.

“Just let me go.”

Finn’s mouth dropped open, his eyes full of disbelief as he soaked in her words. Next to me, Dex stiffened.

“What the fuck, Harlow? We’re not giving up on you!”

The pain in my chest increased when Harlow chuckled, her sarcastic laugh turning into a cough as she weakly looked at Dex.

“You already did.”

The words hurt on their own. But it was the tone... her voice... that fucked me up the most. Her cracked, broken voice that confirmed she had given up.

“Harlow,” I started, “we know you’re innocent. We want to help you. We want to fight for you. But we can’t if you don’t fight too.”

Her light green eyes shifted back to me, so much sadness staring back as she took in my words.

A loud knock at the front door made us jump and Dex immediately sprung into action, racing across the bedroom and living room to let in the paramedics.

Two paramedics in Fluro vests rushed in, their serious faces assessing the situation as they looked at us suspiciously, and at Harlow with hidden panic. My eyes made contact with the female paramedic, her small petite frame looking massively fierce and I moved back at her silent command. The male paramedic spoke in quick, hushed tones to Finn before taking Harlow’s injured arm.

“The three of you need to step out,” the female paramedic sniped at us.

“No,” growled Dex, watching from the doorframe, his eyes locked on Harlow.

They looked at him in surprise and anger. “We need to get her stable so we can get her to the hospital immediately. She needs a surgeon and a transfusion. If you care about her, you’ll back down!”

Dex snapped his mouth closed, and I watched sadly as his eyes welled up with tears. Something hit my hand and I looked down to realize it was my own tears falling.

Finn and I slowly stood and stepped away, watching as the paramedics worked frantically on Harlow, talking to her as they tried to keep her conscious. The three of us huddled together, a sickening bond tying us together as we observed, silently following the stretcher as Harlow was rushed out of the apartment.

Silent conversations passed between us as we all climbed into Finn’s car since it was closest to the road and the ambulance. And as we drove in silence, I tried hard to get the images out of my head.

But I couldn’t.

Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Harlow lying helplessly on the floor, covered in her own blood, begging us to let her die.